


Lights, Camera, Chaos

by cowboys_in_space



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Film AU, More character will arrive as they appear, Multi, Producer!Michimiya, director!ennoshita, lots of actors, sorry I'm bad at tagging, there are just so many
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-15 16:23:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7229848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cowboys_in_space/pseuds/cowboys_in_space
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ennoshita Chikara: Director<strike>'s Assistant</strike> has some problems when he has to take over production of a film unexpectedly. Chaos ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. This is a Mistake

“What do you mean you’re quitting to go into live theater?!” Ennoshita Chikara demanded as he stared at one Sawamura Daichi. Daichi looked infuriatingly normal, with his brown hair still cut professionally close to his scalp, wearing the same suit which showed off his athletic build surprisingly well, leaning forward in his seat, hands steepled over the papers on his desk like he did every single day when asking Ennoshita for his opinion on any of his artistic choices. As if he hadn’t just quit wrestling to… do more wrestling, but somewhere else. The nerve of him.

“I mean,” Daichi repeated, “I’m quitting. I’m not doing this anymore. I guess you could say that I’m moving on. I want to work with the best actor out there, and Suga only does live theater. There really wasn’t much else I could do.”

“You can’t quit!” Ennoshita exclaimed, staring at Daichi who didn’t appear to realize how ridiculous the spew of nonsense coming out of his mouth was. “Daichi, we’re only just about to start filming your movie! We’ve already hired the actors, the lighting directors, hell, you’ve written up the story boards! You cannot just leave this movie unfinished! You’ve already put so much work into it. Also, all of these people are expecting to be here for months, they don’t have a different job lined up, they can’t just be expected to find new employment on a whim! They need the money that this movie will bring them! Frankly, it’s too late to just end this project.”

Daichi sighed slightly, leaning back in his chair and giving Ennoshita a look that screamed, ‘who do you think I am?’. “Chikara, I’m not planning to just end everything.” He said slowly, as though explaining it to a toddler. “I’m giving the film to you.”

“That’s--” Ennoshita’s hands floundered a bit, looking for the right words, “no. That’s a bad plan.”

“Actually,” Daichi corrected, “it’s quite a good plan. You’ve been my Director’s Assistant for years. Half of what goes into my films are your calls. The only reason that you weren’t listed as ‘co-director’ for the last few films was a formality with our contract. You’re talented. I have nothing but faith in you. There’s no one else that I would rather have take over a film for me. You’ve been thinking of taking the plunge into being a director for a while now, so think of this as your debut.”

“First of all, I didn’t cast anyone, you did. I just helped revise Yui and Takada-san’s script and draw up the storyboard, so it’s not really my film, not my debut as a fully-fledged director. Second, you are already a known director. Your films make money, and everyone knows it. No one knows about me, I won’t draw the attention you would, and it’s likely that my name won’t be able to pull the miracle yours does and make more money from a film than what was spent in production. It’s just a bad move. And last, you made a commitment! If you back out now, you won’t get paid for any of the work that you already did. Takada-san is a nice man, but it was right in your contract.”

“Well, I already have my next job. Suga got it for me, I’ll be directing Phantom of the Opera. And it’s a legitimately good, well paying production too.”

Ennoshita had to admit, that was awesome. Every director wanted to direct Phantom of the Opera deep down. But still, that was not a good enough excuse to simply abandon a whole film! Shouldn’t Daichi at least finish it off first? It didn’t matter how good Suga was, it didn’t--

“Wait,” Ennoshita realized, “how did this ‘Suga’ manage to land you that sort of job anyway? And why?”

“As I said; he’s the best. If they wanted him as Raul, they had to take me as their director. Really no arguing with that. And as to the why… that’s a little more personal.”

“Oh my god,” Ennoshita muttered, pieces of the puzzle coming together at last. “He’s the reason that you’ve actually been taking care of yourself and doing things other than work, isn’t he? He’s the Secret Lover!” The reddening of Daichi’s face was rather incriminating. “I told Yui that you must have found someone! She was all ‘no, he’d tell us,’ but I was right. Oh, this is making more and more sense. You want to have a real excuse to be with him!”

“Please don’t tell her about this,” Daichi hissed, leaning forwards conspiratorially. So his self-preservation instinct wasn’t shot. Oh, to be one of Michimiya Yui’s best friends. There would be no end to the teasing.

“Hey, she has a right to know why you so brutally abandoned us, even more than I do,” Ennoshita said with a shrug. “The two of you went into your careers together, you’ve never even made a film without each other. You’ve always been a Team. I didn’t come until later. It’s quite rude of you to tell me and not her.”

“I didn’t tell you about Suga, you just assumed,” Daichi corrected, adopting his famous annoyed parent face that hadn’t worked to shut Ennoshita down since their first production together. It still worked on actors, though, so he supposed it was useful. “I plan to tell Yui everything I told you, and nothing more. I just wanted to tell you first to gauge your reaction. I know that however you react, her reactions will be twice as extreme.”

“That is very true. If I were you, I wouldn’t want to be in the same room-- no, the same country -- as her when she finds out that I was right. Oh, she’ll be furious. First because you didn’t tell her, and then because you really did find a man without her. All of those blind dates she set up for you, wasted,” Ennoshita heaved a dramatic sigh.

Daichi gave a real sigh. “I’ve given into the inevitability that she’s not going to like that I’m dating someone who she didn’t set me up with, who she doesn’t even know. All I can do is hope she won’t figure it out.”

“She will,” Ennoshita interjected helpfully. “If I figured it out, she definitely will.”  
Daichi shot Ennoshita a suffering look. It was honestly pitiful. Ennoshita really hoped this Suga guy was worth it. He probably wasn’t. Was anything truly worth incurring the wrath of Michimiya Yui?

“Listen, Daichi,” Ennoshita said, leaning forward over the desk and patting Daichi’s hand. “I understand that it’s hard. If you want, I can come with you while you break the news. I’m good at being the quiet support.”

Daichi’s face seemed to glow with gratitude. “Honestly, I don’t think I could get through it otherwise,” Daichi admitted. “Thank you.”

Ennoshita smiled his trademark tired smile at him. “Don’t worry about it. I’m only doing it because I want a front row seat to your demise.” With that, Ennoshita stood up, pushing his chair into the desk. “Let’s get going.”

  
***

  
“So, let me get this straight,” Michimiya said, her usually warm brown eyes upgrading to burning infernos while Daichi and Ennoshita watched, her round face and short brown hair which usually made her look so friendly and approachable canceled out by the sheer intensity of her gaze. “You’re leaving to go into live theater. After you practically begged for me to act in this movie, with the knowledge that I prefer just writing the script, because it is ‘a matter of pride that you always cast the best actors for the parts.’ You decided to tell Chikara before me, thinking, for some crazy reason, it would help you tell me -- which, by the way, it didn’t help at all -- and you’ve been trying to hide a secret relationship from us for months. Does that sum it up properly?”

Daichi looked like he was about to implode. Ennoshita wasn’t certain he’d live to see the next day. He wished that she would just full-on yell already. It was hard to get Michimiya angry, but when it happened, it made whomever she was angry at feel like the scum of the universe. He wasn’t even the one she was mad at, and he felt like he had become scum-by-association.

“I’m sorry,” Daichi finally said, hanging his head in shame.

Michimiya sighed, the anger seeming to dissipate in that moment, leaving disappointment in its wake. Apparently Daichi being humble about it was all it took to really break her. “‘Sorry’ is all well and good, but it doesn’t change anything. You should have just told me what was happening, given me and Chikara some sort of warning. You know we wouldn’t have tried to stop you, we could have helped you wrap everything up. We could actually have given you our blessings where Suga is concerned. Did you just not trust us to do that? It’s just… this isn’t fair of you. You know that, right?”

“Yes, I know,” Daichi admitted, not being able to bring himself to look up at her. Only Michimiya could make strong, confident Sawamura Daichi act like a toddler who had been caught trying to swipe cookies from the jar.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d leave, Daichi,” Michimiya said gently. “Me and Chikara have to talk about _our_ film.”

Daichi got up, and started leaving in complete and utter shame.

“Oh, and by the way?” she added, stopping him in his tracks. Ennoshita could see the abject in his rigid posture. “It’s not too late for me and Chikara to give our blessings. You’d better not think you can get rid of us that easily.” She shot him a tiny smile, and that was enough. Daichi returned the smile in full force.

“You couldn’t get rid of me completely even if you tried,” he said. And then he was gone.

“So,” she said, turning to Ennoshita, “he left us with his full cast list and some storyboards. Let’s get to work.”


	2. Send Help

It took approximately two seconds on set for Ennoshita to realize that things were not going to be easy. Every time he heard someone say ‘where’s Sawamura?’ he felt like banging his head against a wall. Daichi owed him big time for this.

“So,” Michimiya said, nudging him with her elbow, “You ready to make the big announcement?”

“Probably not,” Ennoshita admitted as he held up his megaphone and turned it on. “Everyone, I have an important announcement to make!” The crowd of actors, production assistants, and all other types of tech reduced their confused noises to a whisper. “I know all of you came here believing that Sawamura Daichi would be your director. Unfortunately, something came up and he is no longer able to do this job.” The noise from the crowd roared back up again, this time panicked. “Everyone!” he repeated, but it had little effect on the crowd. “This is not--. Listen up!” That was highly ineffective.

Michimiya rolled her eyes and took the megaphone from Ennoshita. “DO NOT WORRY!” she roared. The crowd hushed. How unfair. “The show will go on. We will simply have a new director, Ennoshita Chikara.” She gestured to him. “So, just treat him like you would treat Sawamura, and everything will be fine. He knows what he’s doing.”

“But he’s NOT Sawamura!” came a voice from the crowd, the confident sort of voice of a man who’s not really worried, but definitely annoyed. Said man pushed his way into view. He was about Ennoshita’s height, maybe a bit taller, and rather handsome with his spiky blond hair that had a tiny tuft falling over his forehead and almond colored eyes. He had several piercings, but had taken out any rings for the filming. So, an actor then… oh god, one of their lead actors, Yuuji Terushima. An actor who had a strange obsession with Daichi. An actor who was way out of Ennoshita’s league. “What would happen to us if you don’t turn out to be a sufficient substitute? Movies are fun, but successful movies are the most fun. You are an untested director, we have no way of knowing if you can make this movie work.” Some of the crowd was mumbling in what seemed to be agreement.

“I know,” Ennoshita said, voice falling just short of true confidence. “But I’ve worked with Sawamura for years, and seen all of his methods.”

“He wouldn’t leave his movie to someone he thought couldn’t handle it,” Michimiya added with far more confidence than Ennoshita had.

“Listen, man, you seem cool, but I just don’t work with first-time directors,” Terushima admitted with a shrug. “I want to be able to be part of movies in the future, and I might not be able to if I’m in an unsuccessful one. It’s that simple. You’re not Sawamura, so you can’t promise success.” He shot Ennoshita an apologetic look as he said, “I’m leaving, and anyone else who wants to should come with me.”

Ennoshita watched in horror as a lead actor left, bringing with him too many production assistants, more than half of the lighting crew, maybe some other people Ennoshita didn’t see from the sheer panic that was clouding his vision. The other actors stayed, though. That was a surprise.

Ennoshita had to take a second. Take a deep breath. It couldn’t be so bad, could it? He just had to take note of their situation. Their lights director had stayed, a tall man named Azumane Asahi who Ennoshita knew from experience had a great eye. He’d never failed Daichi before. He still had one other person to help him, another tall guy with messy brown hair and freckles everywhere. Ennoshita didn’t know his name. They still had their cameraman, surprisingly. Tsukishima didn’t seem like the type to do anything if there might not be value in it, but Ennoshita wasn’t going to complain. Never question a gift. Tanaka Saeko was still on sound, which was good. She might be a loud person, but she could really buckle down and get to work when she had to. They had Kinoshita and Narita on costume and makeup, which was unsurprising given that they were here because they knew Ennoshita from college and had worked well together back then, so had no reason to quit. And there were still eight production assistants. It would have been nice to have more, make things run smoother, but eight was enough. Ennoshita noticed they had lost their logger, but they could lose a production assistant to take on that job. So the biggest hit was really the lead actor. Which, admittedly, was a pretty big hit, but not one they couldn’t come back from. Ennoshita looked forlornly at their lineup of production assistants.

Ennoshita cleared his throat and brought the megaphone back to his lips. “Thank you. You didn’t have to stay, but you did. Now, will all production assistants please step forward.” The eight people did. “Can one of you volunteer to become our logger for this production? You will have to write down everything that happens during a shoot.” A girl with light brown hair in a high ponytail and a smattering of freckles stepped forward.

“I’m Kaori Suzumeda,” she said, “and I wouldn’t mind taking the job.”

Ennoshita smiled. “Great, thank you. I’ll get back to you and get you your official sheet and clipboard. Now, of the men here, do any of you have any acting experience?”

The shortest of the four male production assistants was the only one to raise his hand. He had a head of fluffy orange hair and big brown eyes that shimmered with excitement. “I’m Hinata Shouyou, and I played Villager B back in elementary school,” he stated proudly.

Ennoshita sighed internally. This was going to be rough. “Well, alright then. Congratulations, Hinata Shouyou, you officially get to have Terushima’s old part.”

The eyes amped up the intensity from shimmering to glowing. It was almost intimidating. “OOOOOH!” he cried, then dipped into a very deep bow. “Thank you, Ennoshita-san!” he screamed.

“WAIT!” barked a cold voice. Hinata shot up from the bow in alarm as Ennoshita mentally prepared himself for the next person trying to screw up this movie. A tall figure with black hair, piercing blue eyes, and currently sporting a glare that could kill a man pushed to the front of the crowd. Kageyama Tobio, an actor playing another main hero. “You can’t expect some amature to just step up and replace a professional actor! I would rather play both parts than work with someone like him!” His glare turned directly to Hinata, who looked unsure of whether he was going to fight Kageyama or run for dear life. “I will not work with him,” Kageyama ground out.

“Well Kageyama,” Ennoshita said, “we don’t really have any other choice with actors right now. We could find a new actor, but he won’t be any better. The priority right now is finding people who are willing to do the work, not who have most skill. So either you work with him, or I find someone to replace you, too.”

Kageyama looked flabbergasted. He’d obviously never considered that Ennoshita would be willing to just replace him. But oh, Ennoshita was far past the point of caring. He would put a teapot in a costume and call it Kageyama if he thought that’d work. Would it work…? No, bad plan.

“Fine,” Kageyama finally ground out. “I’ll work with him.”

“Excellent,” said Ennoshita, giving off that tired smile of his again. “I hope we will all enjoy working together. Now everyone, start setting up! And someone get Hinata a script!”

With that, everyone split into their different departments. The actors all went over to Kinoshita and Narita, including a very sulky Kageyama and a very bouncy Hinata, who had an annoyed production assistant rushing after him attempting to hand him the script that he REALLY NEEDED.

“This should be interesting,” came a voice from behind Ennoshita, giving him a mini heart attack. He whirled around to see Oikawa Tooru, an actor who was possibly the most beautiful man in existence, and who had been in so many of Daichi’s films that Ennoshita had lost count. Oikawa would be the villain, which had been a special request from him because he ‘would accept any chance to show Tobio-chan a real actor~.’ “I knew that you were hard-core, but this is better than I could have anticipated! I never thought I’d get to see Tobio-chan so grumpy on the first day! This is going great, Chika-chan!”

“Please don’t call me that,” said Ennoshita, wrinkling his nose at the stupid nick-name. “And shouldn’t you be getting your makeup done?”

Oikawa pouted. “Aren’t I pretty enough for you, Chika-chan?” A dramatic sigh. “I can’t believe that you would say something like that to me, after I stood by you! Oh, the cruelty! Sawamura was a bad influence on you! You were much nicer when you weren’t in charge!”

Ennoshita raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you were just much less annoying to me when you went to Daichi for everything.”

“You wound me, Chika-cha--”

“OI, SHITTYKAWA!” roared the unmistakable voice of Iwaizumi Hajime, as he came over and smacked Oikawa over the head with his own prop staff. Ennoshita noticed happily that Iwaizumi was already in the full battle armour that was his costume. “You should be over there getting ready, what are you even doing?! Stop being so lazy!”

“Mean, mean Iwa-chan!” Oikawa cried out as he rubbed the new bump on his head. “I was paying my respects to our new director, like a good cast member should!”

Iwaizumi’s face hardened into a glare. “You get over there, NOW,” he said while poking Oikawa with the staff, HARD, shepherding the man to makeup.

And that was why Daichi only ever hired Oikawa and Iwaizumi as a joint pair. No one else could corral Oikawa back into doing what he was supposed to the way that Iwaizumi could. Ennoshita truly appreciated the man.

“E-Ennoshita-san!” called the freckled guy on lights. “Could we borrow Hinata to adjust the lighting to his, ah, new height?”

“Oh, yeah, of course,” said Ennoshita, and the man went running off to costuming.

“Should I also adjust based on how short he is?” came the lazy drawl of Tsukishima’s voice. “It will make a lot of the shots much harder. His stature is truly impressive.”

“HEY!” came Hinata’s shout, and Ennoshita turned to see the guy pointing at Tsukishima. “I’m not that short!”

Tsukishima walked over to him, and bent down until they were at the same level. “Really? Are you sure?”

“Oi, y-you wanna fight?” Hinata asked, putting up his fists and oh god Tsukishima was totally doing this on purpose why did he have to be such a jackass?

“Tsukki…” the freckled guy said imploringly. “P-please don-”

“Ooh, a FIGHT!”The obnoxious voice of Kuroo Tetsuro, another one of their villains, cut freckles off. He towered behind Ennoshita, creating a truly beautiful shadow of his perpetual bedhead on the ground. “Go get ‘em, Tsukki! You can win!” The situation was getting worse.

Thankfully, the freckled one intervened again. “Hey, can you please stop fighting…” he began tentatively. “It would ruin your makeup; Narita would have to do it all over again.”

Tsukishima huffed derisively, and answered the freckled guy with a curt, “Why would I want to actually fight him? I might hurt him, Yamaguchi, and it would be such a pain to find a replacement.” He then stalked off.

With a smile, freckles-guy shepherded an angry Hinata away to the set, leaving Tsukishima looking disgruntled and a little annoyed, probably because freckles - no, Yamaguchi - hadn’t taken his side. Ennoshita decided that he liked the freckled lights person.

Ennoshita felt a hand land on his shoulder (causing the second heart attack of the day) and turned around to see Michimiya smiling at him. “So, this is what everything will be like, I guess,” she said. “You think you can handle it?”

“Probably not,” Ennoshita admitted, “but there’s nothing to do but try."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ennoshita suffers so much. His poor soul. There are still so many characters to introduce, omg. This is gonna be a wild ride. I hope you enjoyed the update!


	3. I Guess That Works?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry for taking so long! If you've read the first chapters back when they came out, and have not given up on me for some reason, I did some editing to them. Nothing big, everything turns out the same way, but I just like it a bit better now. If not, then ignore this!

Ennoshita never believed in miracles until a miracle had taken place right before his eyes. He decided never to doubt again, for he had been blessed. How? Hinata Shouyou. Maybe it was because Hinata never did things in halves and committed to his character completely, or maybe he was just determined to prove Kageyama wrong. Either way, Hinata was decent. Legitimately decent. A true miracle.

Well, Hinata was decent until Kageyama entered the room.

“What have you been doing all this time?!” Kageyama shouted. “Can’t you keep up with me at all?! Why have you been wasting your time up until now?!”

He wasn’t decent around Kageyama because they were both too busy fighting to get any acting done.

“I haven’t been wasting!” Hinata shouted back. “You don’t know anything, Bakageyama! I never thought I’d even be an actor, why should I have been doing acting?! And I’m already doing WAAAAY better than you anyways, so you can’t talk!”

“YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING BETTER THAN ME?!” Kageyama roared, lunging at Hinata, grabbing his head and twisting his hair painfully. Narita attempted to stop him and save his handiwork, but it seemed like the actors didn’t even notice that the hair and makeup artist was there. It was almost as though he was an inconsequential side character who had no real significance to his show, given how his efforts made no difference to what was actually happening in the plot. Then again, Ennoshita himself had barely any more influence...

When it came to breaking up the fight, that is.

“BREAK IT UP!” boomed another actor. He may have been shorter than Kageyama, but the face he was pulling, along with his shaved head, made Tanaka Ryuunosuke look intimidating, even from Ennoshita’s vantage point safely by Tsukishima’s side and well away from the actor. Needless to say, Hinata and Kageyama both shrunk back in shame. “You two gotta work together, whether you want to or not!” Tanaka cried. “You may not like each other, but as long as you’re on set, you’re part of the same cast, and the same team! You gotta act like one! Fight in your own time!”

Kageyama and Hinata looked thoroughly like scolded children. “Yes, Tanaka-san,” they said in unison.

“Good,” Tanaka smugly replied. “Remember, you’re BOTH pretty new actors compared to the rest of us. You’re a hundred years too early to be fighting about which of you sucks slightly less.” With that, Tanaka strutted back to his place beside a small actor with hair Narita had, for whatever strange reason, decided to gel up in a ridiculous tower, with one little blonde streak poking out the front. This was Tanaka’s counterpart in this film, Nishinoya Yuu. The shorter of the two was beaming.

“That was awesome, Ryuu!” he cried, giving Tanaka a noogie.

In what Ennoshita assumed was Tanaka’s approximation of a whisper, he asked Nishinoya, “Do you think that Kyoko-san saw that? Was she watching?”

It was fairly apparent that Shimizu Kyoko had not been listening at all, until she heard her name and focused all of her sought-after, overpowering attention on Tanaka alone. “Yes? Was there something you wanted of me?” she asked coolly. Tanaka turned bright red under the gaze of the beautiful actress, and didn’t even succeed in stuttering out a response. Typical.

“RYUU!” Tanaka Saeko called over to her brother from where she was standing next to Hinata and Kageyama with the boom mike. It was amazing she didn’t deafen herself with the headphones she was wearing to hear everything the mic picked up. That thing made a whisper loud. Ennoshita was glad not to be her. “BE PROFESSIONAL! STOP BUGGING ONE OF THE ONLY FAMOUS ACTORS IN THIS FILM!”

Tanaka turned even redder upon being addressed by his older sister in front of said actress and finally went quiet. And thus, for perhaps the first time, there was peace on set.

“Alright,” Ennoshita said, clapping his hands once, “that was good for today. Hinata,” the boy snapped his full attention to Ennoshita, “I’m going to need you to make sure that you have all your lines for scene three memorized by tomorrow, alright?”

“YES SIR!” Hinata shouted back with too much intensity. God, interacting with him was tiring. Like sitting out in direct sunlight.

“Alright, everyone is dismissed!” Ennoshita said, and everyone was immediately bustling to get off set.

“That could have gone worse.” Ennoshita said, feeling Michimiya behind him and letting her know he knew she was there this time. She huffed a slightly dissapointed sigh as she stopped attempting to scare the living daylights out of Ennoshita.

“You know, you could at least pretend to be frightened,” she grouched. He leveled her a look, and she rolled her eyes at him. “You’re no fun. I just wanted to tell you that Daichi’s first time wasn’t much less rocky. You’re doing great, Chikara, especially since this wasn’t exactly something you had time to prepare for.” She gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder that was just a little bit too hard for him, as she was prone to doing.

“Thanks,” Ennoshita replied with a slight smile, rubbing his new sore spot. “I just wish I knew what to do about two of my lead actors hating each other. I mean, they can’t even stand to be in the same room! What’s with them? What _can_ I do?”

“Hm,” Michimiya hummed, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Lock them in a closet and not let them out until they resolve their problems?”

Ennoshita laughed. “Don’t tempt me. Please don’t tempt me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think that we are officially done with base chapters and can get into some real shenanigans now! Yay!


	4. A Start?

“This is all your fault, Bakagyama,” Hinata stated.

“MY fault?!” Kageyama cried in dismay. “HOW IS IT MY FAULT?! You’re the one who couldn’t act right! I think it’s my job to tell you that you suck! You shouldn’t get so angry when it’s just a fact!”

“You’re so rude! How could I not get angry?! THAT’S WHY THIS IS YOUR FAULT, YOU’RE RUDE!”

“Actually,” Ennoshita said calmly, “This is both of your faults. You were warned not to argue.”

He heard the metal clang of someone banging some body part against the door. Probably a fist. Hopefully not a head. They didn’t need to lose any more brain cells. “You can’t just keep us in a closet!” they shouted in unison. 

“I can’t?” Ennoshita asked. “I thought that I did.” He paused as there was annoyed grumbling from the other side of the door. “I’ll come back soon to let you both out, but you’d better behave yourselves until then. Otherwise I won’t. Goodbye!” 

“WAIT!” Hinata and Kageyama yelled. Ennoshita stopped to listen to their pleas. 

“What if…” Hinata started.

“What if we worked together?” Kageyama finished.

“I CHALLENGE YOU TO AN ACTING BATTLE!” Hinata yelled as Kageyama shouted “I CHALLENGE YOU TO AN IMPROV BATTLE!” 

“ _ Hmm”  _ thought Ennoshita.

“What would an acting battle even be, you dumbass!?” Kageyama scolded.

_ “It might be a way to force them to get along.” _

“I don’t know!” Hinata replied.  “I’ve never done acting before, there may be some sort of acting battle! I thought I’d heard the term before! On YouTube or something?”

“ _ Putting them on the same team in improvisation, where they would be forced to trust each other completely, might be exactly what they need.” _

“That was a RAP battle, you dumbass!” Kageyama exclaimed. 

_ “There are three other actors on set today, for a scene with three of the sorcerers.” _

“Well, I didn’t know that!” Hinata shot back.

_ “Three is either one too many or one too few… ” _

“You should have, it’s common knowledge!” Kageyama replied incredulously.

_ “I’m gonna wing it.”  _

“An improvisation battle…” Ennoshita said. His talking made Hinata and Kageyama shut up immediately. “The two of you on the same team, against some of the other actors from our film. That could work.”

“Really?!” Hinata and Kageyama exclaimed at the same time, shortly followed by similarly timed “Stop copying me”s. 

“Yes,” said Ennoshita. “But, if you can’t win by working together, I promise you that I  _ will  _ lock you in this closet until you resolve any remaining issues. Is that a deal?”

“Deal,” they both said. 

***

“There’s been a change of plans,” Ennoshita announced. Everyone in the room turned to look at him. He looked over who they had. In terms of actors, Kiyoko was conversing with Saeko as Saeko set up the boom mike. Kuroo Tetsurou and Kozume Kenma were there, standing together as always. (What was Narita doing with hair in this show? Had he made Kenma look like a pudding on purpose? That, next to Kuroo’s bedhead, really made Ennoshita wonder if he should have a different stylist. Oh well, too late now. At least Kiyoko looked normal.) And that was it for actors. Other than them, there were the lights crew people, Asahi and Yamaguchi. And lastly, Tsukishima on camera. Narita and Kinoshita were probably resting backstage. There was probably no need to bother them (although Ennoshita did make a mental note to consult Narita about hair later). 

So there were five actors including Kageyama and Hinata, which would be more than enough. The game Ennoshita had decided on only required four to play. Two of the actors they had would compete against Hinata and Kageyama. Everyone else could judge.

“Unfortunately, these two,” he gestured to Hinata and Kageyama, “were unable to get along, so we are now going to force them to.”

“What is this, Kindergarten?” Tsukishima muttered. 

Ennoshita shot him a look. “As I was  _ saying _ , we are going to have a little competition.”

Kuroo interrupted, “Aw yeah, I’m down. I call Kenma for my team.”

“You don’t even know what kind of competition it is yet, Kuroo. There might not even be teams,” Kenma pointed out.

“There will be teams,” said Ennoshita. “But there isn’t even going to be a competition if you don’t stop interrupting me.” He massaged his temple. It was bad news if he was already forming a headache this early in the day. Everyone finally seemed to be listening, though. “We’re going to be playing a game of Foreign Film Dub. Kuroo and Kenma seem to have just volunteered, so you’ll be facing Kageyama and Hinata. Everyone else is going to be a judge. Let’s just get this over with.”

“YEAAHHHH I’m ready to judge you scrubs!” Saeko crowed. “Better impress me! Oh look my shoe is untied--”

“Just sit down, Saeko,” Ennoshita interjected as Hinata and Kageyama started to rush forward to tie it. It looked dangerously close to breaking out into a race between them.

“You’re no fun, Chikara,” she said with a roll of her eyes as she went to sit down with Kiyoko. Her shoe wasn’t even untied.

Ennoshita ignored her. “Kuroo, Hinata, you two act out a scene in gibberish that sounds like… someone call out a language.” 

“GERMAN” Saeko yelled jubilantly. 

“With those two, anything they say is gibberish,” Tsukishima commented. Yamaguchi snickered.

“Fine, in German. Kenma translates for Kuroo, Kageyama translates for Hinata. Anyone have a title for the scene?”

“A walk in the park?” Asahi suggested timidly.

“Two idiots on a date?” Tsukishima suggested smugly.

“Battle at the garbage dump,” said Kiyoko.

“Hmm, I like that one,” said Ennoshita. “It seems appropriate somehow. Alright actors, get in position. Kuroo and Hinata are acting out the Battle at the Garbage Dump in German. Kenma and Kageyama are translating. Begin when you’re ready.” 

The four actors took a few moments to position themselves. Kuroo stood next Hinata in the center of the room, and Kageyama and Kenma stood somewhat off to the sides near their partners. 

Kuroo walked up to Hinata and gently pushed his shoulder. “Edelweiss kuchen kaupf ist!” he cried. 

“That lollipop was mine, you fool,” Kenma translated in complete monotone. Several of the judges chuckled (Saeko let out a cackle). 

“Gwa GWAAAA gwa gwa!” Hinata replied, stomping down and waving his arms.

Kageyama reared up and opened his mouth, probably to yell at Hinata for using the same syllable over again, but seemed to cut himself off when the judges laughed harder at Hinata than they had at Kuroo. He opened his mouth again, and said, “Fight me FIGHT ME fight me fight me!” instead. 

Ennoshita considered Kageyama’s reaction; people had laughed, but Ennoshita would bet that Kageyama could come up with something better if he wasn’t so busy being frustrated at Hinata. And then there was Hinata, whose acting was genius, in a way, even if he hadn’t intended that at all.

“Kragsburg berlin zu bringen,” Kuroo said warningly, stooping down to pick up something (the garbage?) and rolling it into a ball.

“There’s only one way to settle this,” Kenma said lightly.

“Sauerkraut bratwurst!” Hinata replied.

“Volleyball! You’re on!” Kageyama declared.

Surprised laughs erupted throughout the room. Now, THAT was a better translation. Ennoshita wondered if Kageyama knew that volleyball can’t be played one on one. Well, it was improv, so they would just have to go with it.

“Ich bin ein Berliner das Boot dich!” Kuroo said, sweeping his arm broadly as if to indicate… something.

“Yes, me and my guys will beat you.” Kenma said, clearly knowing just what Kuroo had meant to say. They really did work well together.

“Kaese gemuese kuchen schokolade!” Cried Hinata, looking behind himself with a smile and fist pumping once before turning back to Kuroo. “Bannanen strudel Heineken, frucht apfel, schokolade eise beste!” 

“Finally, some real competition for us! You should know, we’ve never lost. ” Kageyama translated, a smile of his own accompanying the statement. That smile was slightly terrifying. It seemed like Kageyama was starting to get really into it. Not good for Kuroo and Kenma. Saeko was doubled over with laughter, and Kyoko had her hand over her mouth to stifle her own laughter. That was a very good sign.

“Mein kopf hunder blitzcreek ach dung? Gesundheit, lederhosen Hansel und Gretle.” Kuroo whispered, turning to his “team.”

“Oh, these guys are actually supposed to be good? Shoot, we haven’t got a chance.” Kenma translated. The laughter got louder.

Hinata looked over his shoulder and asked, “Essen kekse pfeferkuchenhaus?”

“Do you think they believed us?” Kageyama said.

“Kindergarten kopf! Oi weh guten tag dirch!” Kuroo shouted at Hinata!

“There’s no way we’ll lose,” Kenma monotoned, “we’ve played way too much vollyball.”

“Wasser mellon. Wurst sauerbraten brezle kugel dourbahn,” Hinata said solemnly and seriously.

“Sure you have. Tell us the rules of the game, then,” Kageyama translated.

Now, that was a great setup for the other team, Ennoshita thought.

“Bruh…. Sprechen Sie deutsch für mich! Spielen wir!” cried Kuroo.

“Um… you have to balance on the ball. And sing.” Kenma translated. That had a lot of laughs from the crowd.

“Wiener schnitzel! Spaetzel! Kekse und Kuchen!” Hinata replied.

“Of course! I knew that! Let’s play!” Kageyama cried, which made the laughing intensify.

  
Ennoshita decided to end it before any singing happened. “And scene!” he called. Hinata looked a bit confused, but followed suit when the others didn’t act and just turned to Ennoshita. “That was a good game!” he said. “Our ‘judges’ are gonna vote now.” 

“I VOTE FOR TEAM SHOUYOU!” Saeko boomed. Hinata looked smug about his name being the team name, while Kageyama looked just a little murderous.

“Hinata and Kageyama,” Kiyoko said smoothly. Hinata’s name had gone first, making the whole smug/murderous thing worse.

“Must I vote?” Tsukishima asked in annoyance. “Well, I suppose that Kuroo and Kenma are the lesser of two evils.”

“I knew you loved me, Tsukki!” Kuroo chirped happily.

“Don’t call me that,” Tsukishima responded, not noticing Yamaguchi’s eyebrows drawing together in confusion at that.

“I-I’m with Tsukki...shima.” Yamaguchi said. Tsukishima frowned at that.

“I… I think I’ll vote for… ooh, this is hard. Can they tie? They all did great!” Asahi said.

“You have to pick SOMEONE!” Saeko cried.

Asahi looked imploringly at Ennoshita. “No, you really have to,” Ennoshita said.

“Oh, then, um… Kageyama and Hinata?” Asahi decided. Kageyama seemed content to have his name go first this time.

“Well, I’m for Kageyama and Hinata too, so that means they win,” Ennoshita said with a smile. 

“We don’t have to go back into the closet!” Hinata cried with a hundred-watt smile, turning to Kageyama and shouting, “High five!”

“You actually trapped them in a closet?” Tsukishima asked with a slight smirk as Kageyama refused. “You’re a much better director than I’d thought.”

“Daaang, that’s pretty harsh Chikara,” Saeko said as Hinata started wrestling for Kageyama’s hand. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Ennoshita responded gravely as Hinata and Kageyama’s roughhousing started to get too close to one of the set pieces for comfort. “Oi, break it up, you two!” he shouted. “If we work well, we still might be able to film the scene. Go to Narita and Kinoshita, now!” He smiled slightly as they scurried off, obeying him.

“They’re starting to work together, at least a bit,” Asahi noted with a fond smile.

“Yeah, until they end up killing each other the second they stop acting,” Kuroo replied, rolling his eyes.

  
“It’s better than nothing,” Kiyoko said. “It’s a start.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cue Kuroo singing Start of Something New from High School Musical.


	5. Rivals?

Tanaka and Nishinoya were not invited to the set today. They were not filming any scenes. But here they were. Ennoshita did not have a good feeling about this.

“LISTEN UP EVERYONE!” Tanaka shouted. Ennoshita’s bad feeling increased.

“SO!” Nishinoya took over. “I believe that you ALL remember the over-dramatic exit of Terushima Yuuji from our production, leading to the far cooler and nicer and deserving-er Hinata Shoyo getting his part.”

“THANKS NOYA!” Hinata shouted from where Narita was doing up his hair.

“No problem Shoyo,” Nishinoya responded. “Well, we have discovered some disturbing intelligence…”

“TERUSHIMA YUUJI IS NOW WORKING FOR SHIRATORIZAWA STUDIOS!” Tanaka called. 

“He should have been loyal to Karasuno,” Nishinoya added gravely. “This is the landmark third film of the company!” 

_ That’s not really a landmark _ , thought Ennoshita,  _ it’s just another movie being made by a small company.  _

“The first two movies already had Sawamura Daichi, one of the best directors ever!” Nishinoya continued. “And now it has Ennoshita Chikara, another one of the best!”

_ Wow, that was an unexpected ego boost. _

“I know, it’s hard to believe that anyone would want to leave our  _ amazing _ studio,” Nishinoya pressed on, “but just listen to this:

“Terushima Yuuji has just been cast in Shiratorizawa Studio’s new film,  _ Fruit of Barren Land.  _ Directed by Ushijima Wakatoshi (director of the hits  _ The Strongest  _ and  _ You Should Have Come... _ ), it is a film to look out for. Its release date will be March 14 of this yea-”

“THAT’S RIGHT!” Tanaka interrupted. “Not ONLY has Shiratorizawa STOLEN OUR ACTOR, they have STOLEN OUR RELEASE DATE!” A murmur of terror rumbled through the crowd.

_ This was ridiculous. Shiratorizawa was probably already planning to release it that date, they wouldn’t change anything for a small company like Karasuno. _

Yet, there was a half circle of people forming around Tanaka and Nishinoya, trying to listen better, including Hinata and Kageyama, both looking way too excited. 

“THIS CAN ONLY MEAN ONE THING!”  Tanaka shouted.

Nishinoya continued, “From this day forth:”

“THEY ARE OUR RIVALS!” They shouted in unison. “AND WE WILL TAKE THEM DOWN!”

Hinata and Kageyama stood, heads back, mouths agape, eyes bulging. In unison, they both whispered, “so cool.”

“Wait, they aren’t our rivals!” Ennoshita said to a room that was clearly not listening. “There are no rivals!”

“GWAAAAAA!” Hinata cried, jumping up and down. “We have real rivals! This is so cool!” He waited a beat, and then, “Who, exactly, is Shiratorizawa?”

“How do you not know Shiratorizawa?!” Kageyama shouted, grabbing the front of Hinata’s shirt and shaking him.

“Hey!” Hinata cried. “I’m still new to being an actor! I don’t know about everything yet!”

“Kageyama only knows because he wanted in, but Shiratorizawa turned him down,” Tsukishima drawled.

“They turned you down?! But you’re so good!” Hinata shouted at Kageyama. 

“I’d like to see you try to get into one of their films, dumbass!” Kageyama shouted back. Then he seemed to realize the second half of what Hinata had said and turned bright red. “Ah, uhm.”

“They aren’t that great,” Oikawa said, surprisingly sparing Kageyama some embarrassment. How… out of character. “Afterall, Ushiwaka  _ did  _ ask me to be his lead, but I chose a smaller part of this production over even thinking about being in that one.”

“That’s because you’re an idiot, Shittykawa,” said Iwaizumi, knocking Oikawa on the back of the head.

“That is so mean! As my boyfriend, you’re supposed to be supportive of me!” Oikawa cried.

“As your boyfriend, I’m supposed to tell you when you’re an idiot,” Iwaizumi countered. He turned to Hinata and actually began to explain. “Shiratorizawa is a film studio. A very big film studio.”

Asahi stepped forward, wringing his hands, and corrected, “A very,  _ very _ big film studio! Th-they have won more film awards than any other live-action production company in Japan! They always have at least three films in-production, while Karasuno has only ever done one at a time! We can’t be their rivals!”

“They also have Ushijima on that film,” Tsukishima added matter-of-factly. “He has won four awards, starting with one from his first time directing. This would be impressive for anyone, but once you consider he is still young, it becomes even more extraordinary.”

“A-and!” Asahi continued, sounding more and more intimidated. “Their productions have at least three camera men! And a whole, huge light crew of at least ten people! All working together so efficiently!”

“And none of their actors are supposed to be production assistants,” Tsukishima added with a pointed look at Hinata.

“And a whole costume team,” Kinoshita said, “not just one person. Might want to think about getting one of those, Ennoshita.”

“So you can slack off?” Ennoshita asked. “Fat chance.” 

“They also have a team of people on hair and makeup,” Narita added helpfully.

“What it comes down to,” Iwaizumi said, “is that they’re a film studio that has already been well established, while we’re just a step above Indi.”

“So,” Hinata said, “what you’re saying is, WE WILL TOTALLY CRUSH THEM!”

“HELL YEAH WE WILL!” Tanaka shouted.

“We should start writing acceptance speeches for all the awards we’ll win!” Nishinoya crowed.

“ _ I  _ am the one who will show the world real acting, not Ushiwaka,” Oikawa piped in with a glance towards Kageyama.

“ _ You’ll  _ be the one?!” Kageyama asked, flabbergasted. “ _ I’m _ going to show Ushijima what he could have had.”

“We’ll all show them!” Hinata cried.

“We’ll beat the hell outta them,” Saeko cried, as she strolled over and looped an arm around Ennoshita’s shoulders, “because we’ve got the better director!”

Ennoshita tried again, “We aren’t trying to-”

“Hell,” Saeko rolled on, “we’ve got the better crew and actors too! Oh, and our script! Yui and Takeda-san did a great job with it, it rocks! WE WILL WIN!” Michimiya beamed at the compliment.

“I already told you that this film is better,” Oikawa added happily. “Ushiwaka doesn’t stand a chance!” His tone darkened as he continued, “I can’t wait to see the look on his face when our movie wipes the floor with theirs.”

Kageyama smiled, and that was a terrifying experience. “I can’t either.”

“Hey, don’t agree with me!” Oikawa cried, backing away from Kageyama in disgust.

“But it’ll be so cool when we beat them!” Hinata cried, bouncing around excitedly. “We’ll be all ‘BAM’ and they’ll be all ‘WHAAAA’ and we’ll win big time!”

“Speak Japanese!” Tsukishima drawled from somewhere.

Ennoshita looked around, and yup, sure enough, almost no one was ready for shooting. There was so much excited chatter. A few of the Production Assistants seemed to be starting a betting pool. The camera hadn’t even been set up. “EVERYONE!” Ennoshita shouted over the din, “Talk about this  _ after _ you are set up and ready to go!” 

Ennoshita had never seen them disperse so quickly, or get ready so efficiently. Yeah, okay, encouraging a rivalry with an already-well-established film company who would never even know the rivalry existed didn’t seem like such a bad thing. A one-sided rivalry could be just what they needed to increase productivity.

Ennoshita grabbed Tanaka and Nishinoya by the arms. “You two, get out, and don’t disrupt our shooting again.”

“Yes, sir!” they said, mock saluting and scurrying away. 

By the time Tanaka and Nishinoya left, everyone was ready to shoot. Alright, Ennoshita could definitely get behind the one-sided rivalry thing. He couldn’t imagine how this could possibly backfire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, sorry for the long wait, I know I suck. But hey! Plot's happening! That's good, right?


	6. Rivals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been forever, but I'm back with a dead meme as the titles for the chapters! Yay!  
> Real talk, sorry it took so long, this is the fourth attempt at this chapter, and with this one I realized I'd have to re-work where I thought the fic as a whole was going. I have a much more definite plan now, though! (don't think that means updates will come more regularly, though.)

Ushijima Wakatoshi had been having a good day. Past tense.

Finally, he was directing a script he had written himself. This scene was where much of the drama would happen. It was exactly the sort of challenging, emotional scene that a great actor like Terushima would find ‘fun.’

But Terushima was distracted; yet  _ again.  _ “I swear I’m not making it up!” he defended himself. “There really  _ are _ people in the foliage!”

Satori Tendou, the other actor in this scene who was standing  _ right next to  _ Terushima, shook his head. “Don’t you think that if there were people in there, I would see them too?”

“I swear!” Terushima shouted, getting more riled up than ever. “I saw one this time! It looked like a guy, red hair, small-”

“Oh,” Tendou interrupted, “so you’re seeing  _ little people  _ in the foliage.”

“Yes!” Terushima cried. “I mean- no! I’m not going crazy or making this up, there really is someone there!”

“I’m sure,” said Tendou with a roll of his eyes.

“Whether there is someone there or not,” Ushijima cut in, “we need to concentrate on filming. If we dally too much longer, it’ll be obvious the time of day has changed, and we’ll need to shoot everything all over again.”

“How can I concentrate on filming when the scene is about buying land!? Not fun at all!” Terushima cried. 

“There is an important decision your character has to make,” Ushijima explained. “This moment is pivotal to the plot.”

“Oh, ‘Should I purchase this obviously great land or not!? What a difficult decision! I think that I won’t.’ It makes no sense! The script is just bad!”

Ushijima wanted to hit something. 

One member of the light crew started playing a game of solitaire. Ushijima  _ really  _ wanted to hit something.

They were wasting too much time. Shiratorizawa was only leased this path in the ‘relaxation forest’ for another hour. After that, they’d be overrun by ‘relaxation tourists’ and ‘relaxation tour guides.’

Not to mention, if there actually  _ were _ people in the foliage, they’d be paparazzi, who would inevitably write about discord on the set.

“Terushima,” Misaki Hana, their camera person, said, “sometimes you have to do things, even if they aren’t fun. So get your act together and do your job, and we won’t have a problem. Maybe when you try it, it won’t seem so bad.”

“Yes ma’am,” Terushima said with a mock salute. Misaki started filming as Terushima cleared his throat and slipped into character. “This land seems fertile enough… yet, would it present a challenge?”

“Someday,” Tendou replied, “you will have to settle down. An excellent seedling needs suitably excellent soil. It can't yield first-rate fruit on barren land. You may like a challenge, but you will also need stability.”

“Stability is not what I need; I need to feel alive. On land like this, so obviously able to sustain- DID YOU HEAR THAT!?”

Everyone groaned.

But Ushijima did hear something. It sounded like… hushed voices. Ushijima trekked closer to the source, where the foliage came up past his knees. Almost exactly where they had been filming.

“Find your own place to hide, dumbass!” a voice hissed.

“Why are you even here? This was supposed to be my lookout!” a higher voice replied in far louder than a whisper. 

“You’re going to get us caught!” the first voice replied, even louder than the second had.

There was a lot of rustling, like someone roughhousing in the foliage. Ushijima concluded that there  _ were  _ people hiding in there.

“We all know you’re there,” Misaki said. “You might as well come out.”

The rustling stopped. The second voice went high pitched as it said, “I think they heard us.” A solid  _ smack _ could be heard from the area, as the voice let out a high pitched yelp, and a short man with bright orange hair jumped up. “That hurt!” he cried as he kicked the other man, who then bounded up as well. This one was tall, with black hair and a scowl.

“I wouldn’t have had to hit you if you’d stopped making noise!” the tall one ground out.

“You were making just as much noise as I was!” the short one defended.

They looked about ready to brawl when Ushijima stepped over to them and glared. They took a step back in unison, and gulped nervously.

“What are you doing here?” Ushijima asked, trying to make his tone as cold as possible.

Based on the way their faces paled, it worked. The short one edged a bit behind the taller one.

“You see,” the short one started, “we had to watch you for a good reason! We-”

“So,” Ushijima interrupted. “You were here to watch us.” He looked the two of them up and down. Neither had a camera. “You aren’t very good paparazzi.”

“We aren’t paparazzi!” the small one exclaimed. He puffed himself up to his full unimpressive hight and pointed at his chest as he stated, “I’m Hinata Shouyou, and this is Kageyama Tobio, and we are your rivals!”

There was a moment of stillness in the air. Then Tendou started laughing.

“Our rivals?” he asked, shaking with the mirth. “You look like a grade schooler!”

“Hey!” Hinata said indignantly. “I’m-”

“Wait a second,” Terushima interrupted. He pointed at the tall one as he stated, “I recognise you. You… you’re from that other movie! You’re one of the leads of  _ Quest!!. _ ”

“So, you’re here from another movie to spy on us?” asked Misaki, raising her eyebrow. She did not look impressed.

“No!” Hinata yelled. 

“Yes!” Kegeyama yelled. 

The two not-paparazzi stared at each other.

“Yes!” Hinata yelled as Kageyama yelled “No!”

Then they said in unison, “We had to scope out our rivals!”

“Sheesh,” Tendou said. “I think we should find new rivals, if these are it. No one’s ever even heard of  _ Quest!! _ outside of the fact that Sawamura Daichi abandoned it.”

“Who said anything about a rivalry?” Ushijima asked.

“You did,” Kageyama responded, “when you chose to take both our actor and our release date.”

“And our movie is really good!” Hinata said. “We’re totally a great studio that is way too good to be your rival!”

“We have the same release date as them?” asked the guy on the boom mike, Goshiki Tsutomu.

“Not that I was aware of,” Ushijima told him.

“Well, you do!” the small one said. “And we will prove that we are a much better movie studio!”

“Without Sawamura Daichi, your movie will never get noticed, you know,” Tendou informed him.

“It will,” Kageyama stated. “We still have Shimizu Kyoko and Oikawa Toru to attract an audience.” Ushijima vaguely noticed Misaki tense up. “And Ennoshita-san is a great director. The people who see the movie will come back to see it again.”

“A hundred times!” Hinata added.

Ennoshita? Ushijima had never heard of him. 

“No matter how good you  _ think  _ this Ennoshita-san is, the stronger studio will create the better movie,” Ushijima stated. “An excellent director needs suitably excellent funding. They can't yield a first-rate movie on a lacking budget.”

“We may not have the funding that you do,” Hinata said. “We may have a studio set rather than being on-location. We might have a smaller crew. But we also have spirit, and a will to win. We will defeat you!”

Kageyama smiled unnervingly at Hinata’s speech. 

That was when a woman came jogging up the path towards them. She was wearing the standard uniform for a ‘relaxation tour guide.” She looked distressed.

“ _ There  _ you two are!” she said, running up to Kageyama and Hinata. “How did you even end up in the one part of the forest where people are filming? No wonder it took so long for me to find you!” She stopped for a moment and tried to catch her breath before glaring at the duo. “Don’t go wandering off like that! If you don’t stay with me, I’ll have no way to make you relax!”

“We’re sorry,” Hinata said, “but it was important!”

“Sorry won’t cut it,” she replied. “You both are coming with me, and we are  _ finishing your tour. _ ” She grabbed each of their hands and started dragging them away.

“We will win!” Hinata called behind him.

“They get the message, dumbass!” Kageyama scolded. 

“If you two don’t stop arguing, you’re never going to relax!” the tour guide shouted. And then they were gone.

“That was eventful,” Tendou said.

“How did you not see them earlier?” Terushima asked him.

“Oh, I did see them,” Tendou replied. “It was just more interesting to see which one of us everyone would believe.” Terushima glared at him.

“Let’s get back to work,” Ushijima said, clapping his hands once. “Start from ‘This land seems fertile enough…’” Terushima groaned.

Ushijima did not want today’s confrontation in any gossip magazines. He could only be glad that there hadn’t been any actual paparazzi. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, you start to see where the plot is heading! Plus, first chapter in a different point of view!


	7. Angering the Powers

The last thing that Ennoshita heard before it happened was Yamaguchi shouting, “Look out!”

It was like a moment in slow motion. Ennoshita was across the set. Nothing he could do. A light was falling, getting closer to the ground. Asahi’s face morphed into a mask of horror as he watched the  _ very expensive  _ equipment descend. 

But it didn’t hit the ground. Instead, the obnoxious, short, spiky-haired guardian angel Nishinoya swooped in from no-where and caught it.

“NICE RECEIVE!” Tanaka called. Nishinoya whooped and spun around in victory, in the process almost dropping the light after all. Ennoshita could feel himself loose at least three years of his life from this.

“Th-thanks,” Asahi muttered to the pumped Nishinoya.

“No problem!” Nishinoya crowed, slinging an arm around Asahi as he dumped the light into the taller man’s arms. “I’m always here to help anyone in need!”

“You shouldn’t have caught that, Nishinoya,” Oikawa said far too loudly for his intent to be anything other than having the whole set hear him. He advanced on the two holding the light. “You know that it’s not a good idea to interrupt the ghost’s work; it could get angry.”

“Ghost?” Hinata asked, bounding over to where the others were talking with Kageyama in tow. “What ghost?”

“Oh, so you don’t know about it?” Oikawa asked, obviously feigning surprise. The others didn’t seem to find it so obvious.

“Oh hoho,” Kuroo said, striding over. “We have an angry ghost now? This is when filming gets interesting.” 

Tsukishima scoffed. “You all would believe anything.” Yamaguchi nodded along with him.

“This really is true, Glasses-kun,” Oikawa said, pointing to Tsukishima, who rolled his eyes.

Just as Ennoshita thought about intervening, the door to their studio set burst open. That was odd. Everyone in cast and crew were here already.

A tall, broad man with short black hair and a stormy expression stomped his way over to Kageyama and Hinata, who froze in place. The man looked familiar, somehow… but he also looked very angry and like he was going to murder two of Ennoshita’s cast members, and Ennoshita already had too much drama in the casting department to let that happen. Protecting Kageyama and Hinata was top priority.

“What did the two of you do?!” the intruder ground out, holding up a magazine to their faces.

Ennoshita briskly walked over to the man, and stepped between the stranger and his cast. It was at this moment Ennoshita realized how  _ much _ taller this man was than him, and how much stronger he looked. This could be an issue. Ennoshita tried to look intimidating as he asked, “Excuse me, but what business do you have with my actors?” 

The man looked down his nose at Ennoshita. “Your ‘actors’ invaded my set, and apparently sold some ridiculous story to a gossip magazine.” He shook the magazine in his hand for emphasis. “This is the last thing that Shiratorizawa needs right now!”

His set. Shiratorizawa. The familiar face. This was Ushijima Wakatoshi. Hinata and Kageyama had managed to piss off the most famous young director in all of Japan. Ennoshita turned around to glare at the two culprits. “Is this true?” he asked, tone icy.

“We did the first part!” Hinata cried.

“But we never sold any information,” Kageyama finished. 

“Then how did the information get out?” Ushijima asked.

Hinata thought for a moment. “Oh, maybe those other guys in the bushes! The ones with cameras!”

“What?!” Ushijima shouted.

“Come to think of it,” Kageyama said, “they could have been paparazzi.” 

“And you decided not to mention this?!” Ushijima looked horrified.

At a glare from Ennoshita, Kageyama and Hinata had the decency to look ashamed. “Why did you sneak onto their set?” Ennoshita asked, trying to assert as much dominance as he could with just his voice.

“We had to tell them that they were our rivals!” Hinata explained. He shrunk down when Ennoshita’s glare gained intensity.

Ennoshita turned to Ushijima. “If they say that they didn’t sell the article, then they didn’t. Hinata and Kageyama are a lot of things, but they aren’t liars.”

Ushijima looked at him, as though trying to appraise him. Ennoshita could only hope that his making eye-contact would hide the fact that his insides were turning to jelly. And he’d thought he was afraid of  _ Daichi _ when they’d first met. You know, thinking on it, that really had been just as scary. Ennoshita gained a new sense of confidence.

Finally, Ushijima broke eye-contact. “They may not have sold the information, but that does not change the fact that-” he squinted at the paper- “Daisho Suguru somehow developed the delusion that we are rivals, and decided to publish an article about it in one of the most popular magazines currently running.”

“But we are rivals!” Nishinoya announced.

“Yeah, and we’ll BEAT THE HELL OUT OF YOU!” Tanaka crowed.

Ennoshita massaged the bridge of his nose, trying to fight the beginnings of a migraine. “So what you’re saying,” Ennoshita said, “is that we are rivals now, whether we like it or not.”

Ushijima nodded.

“I don’t see how that’s a bad thing,” Oikawa said, honestly. “All this means is publicity. Neutral for them, and positive for us.” He then smiled darkly. “It’ll be even more positive when people say our movie is better in comparison.”

Ushijima straightened up. “Oikawa-san,” he said, “you may be a great actor, but that is not enough to carry a whole movie. I assure you that our film will be remembered, while yours will not.”

“I don’t have to carry the whole movie,” Oikawa informed him. “That’s how I know ours is better. I would have been carrying yours.”

Tanaka leaned towards Nishinoya and loudly whispered, “Burn.”

Ushijima looked like he was trying to think of a come-back. Ennoshita decided to intervene before Ushijima hurt himself trying. “If you don’t mind,” Ennoshita said, “we really should get to filming. We can argue about our movies and rivalries on a day when we’re not trying to get things done.”

Ushijima gave him a look. “We will meet again, Ennoshita Chikara,” he said, before making his (dramatic) exit.  

“How did he know Ennoshita-san’s full name?” Kageyama loudly whispered to Hinata.

“Probably the article,” Hinata whispered back. “Hopefully the article. Mind readers don’t exist, do they?”

“Of course they don’t, dumbass!” Kageyama replied. He thought for a moment. “Do they?” he asked, turning to Ennoshita.

This migraine was going to be a doozy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! So many people in the bushes... so many idiotic actors.


	8. Bigger Than Foghorn Leghorn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this took too long, I'm sorry

Yachi Hitoka was not used to getting important jobs. She had been working in marketing for a few years now, and the biggest job she’d had up until now was being the Japanese voice of Foghorn Leghorn on twitter. Loony Toons had ditched the character in 1963, and he wasn’t even in the revival! She had no idea why he even  _ needed  _ a twitter account! Let alone a Japanese one!

And that job had been stressful! She couldn’t stop wondering if she was doing it wrong, if she sounded anything like the character, if she would crush some poor fan’s hopes and dreams by not seeming enough like Foghorn Leghorn for them, so they would come and find her and threaten her if she didn’t change the way she was writing him! And then she would have to move to Antarctica and live there and continue writing the tweets from there, in constant fear that they would find her! And she would get corrupted by the penguins, and start sounding more like a penguin than a rooster!

Needless to say, being told she was going to create the public image of  _ Quest!!  _ was the single most terrifying event that she could possibly imagine.

As she stared at the door to the studio where they would be filming, Yachi couldn’t help but think that this was way beyond Foghorn Leghorn. This was making the cast of a whole movie look good, and making the movie as appealing as possible to a wide audience! While this is what she had studied for, Yachi knew that she wasn’t cut out for this.

And now she had been standing outside the door for an unreasonably long time, just because she couldn’t bring herself to go in. She must look ridiculous. And she had brought her camera with her, to record behind-the-scenes footage! She hadn’t even asked Ennoshita-san if that was alright, she just did it! Then again, she hadn’t asked Ennoshita-san much, as her mind pretty much blanked out when she got his phone call.

And she was still standing in front of that darn door!

Yachi took a deep breath and adjusted the strap of her camera case on her shoulder. This was no big deal. She could do this. She would open the door, go in, and get the material to make them all look great. Like a professional.

“Are you alright?”

Yachi was not proud to admit to letting out a terrified squeak as she jumped into the air, then wheeled around to see who had spoken to her. And when she did see who it was, she felt that she had stopped breathing. 

Yachi was face-to-face with a woman -- no, a goddess! No normal woman could look like that, all tall with black hair and piercing eyes, and was that a beauty mark? That was just unfair. And the woman was looking at Yachi worriedly, as though she thought Yachi was in some sort of trouble, and wanted to help. Beautiful and kind! Yachi’s heart did its best to beat its way out of her chest. 

That’s when Yachi realized she had been ogling the woman instead of answering her.

“Yes!” Yachi managed to get out. “I’m fine! It’s just- you see, it’s my first day here, I was just collecting myself!”

“Oh, you must be our new marketer,” said the woman, with a dazzling smile that did not help the situation. She extended a hand. “I’m Shimizu Kiyoko. I’m looking forward to working with you.”

Yachi grabbed onto the hand awkwardly and shook, probably too hard. “Y-Yachi Hitoka!” she reported. “It’s nice to meet you!” She was going to be working with this woman?! She had read about the whole main cast online, but she hadn’t seen any pictures. If she’d known that Shimizu Kiyoko was going to be this beautiful, she might have quit before getting here to save herself the embarrassment of this inevitable conversation!

“Let’s go in,” Shimizu said. “You’ll need to be introduced to everyone. I see you brought a camera today. That’s a good idea - behind the scenes always gets people invested in a movie.”

And with that, Shimizu swung the door open. Yachi flipped on her camera and followed her.

The scene inside was… confusing.

There was a fairly standard studio set, with a green screen, and a whole lot of trees and foliage in front of it to make things look real, and a camera, and bulky lighting equipment, and space for all the actors to get ready off to the sides.

And… it seemed like everyone had gone insane. A woman was using a boom mic as a _javelin,_ shouting “COME AT ME!” A bald man was in a corner praying (just like a monk), a small boy with orange hair was swinging from the supports of the backdrop as a dark-haired man with a scowl tried to grab at him, and an even smaller boy with spiky hair was screaming loudly over what looked like spilled food as a large, intimidating man with a manbun was crying in the corner. 

A bespectacled blond man was checking his camera looking unconcerned, but the freckled guy next to him looked on the verge of running. There was a man with dark hair who looked over-tired and about ready to quit this job. He seemed to be trying to get people’s attention, to no avail.

“This has gotten out of hand!” a tall man with short black hair cried. “Shittykawa, do something!”

“I can’t!” cried the second most beautiful person Yachi had seen that day. “This has gotten out of my control!”

“T-Tsuki,” the freckled boy said, “if Oikawa-san can no longer control the ghost, shouldn’t we get out of here?”

“There is no ghost, Yamaguchi,” the cameraman responded.

“O-of course-”

“OIKAWA USED TO CONTROL THE GHOST?!” the boy (man?) who had been screaming over the food yelled. “Why did you have it attack my popsicle?! MY POPSICLE OF ALL THINGS! MY POPSICLE WAS INNOCENT!”

“There is no ghost,” the tall, dark haired one said. “Calm down, Nishinoya.”

“He admitted to it!” said a tall man with a bad case of bedhead and a lazy grin . 

The woman with the boom mike pointed it at Oikawa. “You’d better start talkin’!” she cried. Oikawa looked paralyzed with fear.

That was when another woman stepped forward, with short brown hair and brown eyes and more of an air of authority than anyone else there. Well, besides Shimizu, of course. Yachi found herself standing up a bit straighter.

“You all need to stop panicking,” the woman said. “Turning on each other is just what the ghost would want. We need to be united, strong. It can’t hurt us if we don’t let it.” 

Some of the tension left the room. The tired-looking man just muttered, “but there is no ghost,” before clapping his hands and shouting, “Now, everyone! Continue getting ready to shoot! We do not want to fall behind schedule!”

As everyone dispersed, Shimizu went to talk to the tired man. He smiled, then turned to look directly at Yachi. Yachi gulped.

The man walked over and extended a hand. “You must be Yachi Hitoka. I’m Ennoshita, we spoke on the phone.”

“Y-yes!”

“I’m sorry that your introduction to the set was a bit… chaotic. I wish I could say it isn’t always like this, but I’d be lying.” Ennoshita sighed. “They’re usually friendly, at least.”

Yachi nodded. “Friendly is good! That will look good to the public!” 

Ennoshita smiled at that. “You’ll have to do interviews with the main cast,” he said, “and probably some of the smaller characters too. The most important people to get are Kageyama Tobio,” he pointed to the dark haired scowler, “Hinata Shouyou,” he pointed to the orange haired one, “Iwaizumi Hajime,” he pointed to the tall, dark haired nonbeliever, “Kozume Kenma,” he pointed to a guy with badly-dyed blonde hair, “and our main villain, Oikawa Toru.” That was the main cast? It seemed like there was something missing, image wise. Yachi couldn’t quite place her finger on what.

“Oh!” Yachi exclaimed, holding up her camera. Huh, it had been running the whole time. She switched it off. “This camera isn’t too expensive. It should be given to an actor that you want the public to see a lot of, to make a video log and get people interested in the movie. Someone with a good personality.”

Ennoshita thought for a moment, then shouted, “HINATA!”

“You’re in trouble!” Nishinoya sing-songed. Kageyama just smirked as Hinata dashed over to Ennoshita’s side.

“Whatever it is,” Hinata said, “it’s probably Kageyama’s fault.”

“Hey!” Kageyama shouted indignantly. Ennoshita just rolled his eyes.

“You’re not in any trouble,” Ennoshita said. “Unless there’s something I should know about.”

“I didn’t break the pole that was Kageyama I swear and it was good as new with Duct tape so it isn’t even a problem!” Hinata cried.

Ennoshita just rolled his eyes again. He seemed to do that often. “Actually,” he said, “you’re here to talk to our new marketer, Yachi Hitoka.”

That was when Hinata’s gaze fell on Yachi. His gaze was way more intense than she would have thought, and she felt herself freeze up.

Hinata didn’t seem to realize this about himself, as he just smiled and said, “It’s good to meet you!”

“Y-yeah, good to meet you too,” Yachi responded.

“So, what do you need from me?” he asked. His smile widened and his eyes sparkled. “Am I going to be the face of the movie over Kageyama!? He always says,” Hinata flattened his hair and pitched his voice lower, “‘I will be the face of  _ Quest!!  _ because I am the main character. I’m too competitive to admit that your character starts the plot and has more lines than mine, obviously making me the secondary character.’”

Based on what Yachi had read of the script, Oikawa’s character starts the plot. She decided not to correct him.

“Actually,” she said, thrusting the camera in front of her awkwardly, “I was wondering if you could film the behind the scenes!”

There was a beat of silence which had Yachi way too on edge as Hinata gently took the camera. Then his eyes glimmered again as he exclaimed, “Ooooooh! I get to do the behind the scenes! Yes!” He flipped the camera opened right then and pressed record. “Smile!” he said, putting it on Ennoshita. Surprisingly, Ennoshita did more than that. He laughed.

“A-actually,” Yachi cut in, and the camera turned on her. She swallowed. “Actually, you should start by filming the actors, to get people interested-” Yachi was pretty sure that Hinata was too busy pushing the different buttons and zooming in and out to to actually pay attention to what she was saying.

“Don’t worry, Yachi-san!” Hinata exclaimed, eyes still shining. “I will make the best behind the scenes video you’ve ever seen!” Yachi was too intimidated to contradict him.

Hinata dashed off, camera still on, and shouted, “TSUKISHIMA! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A CAMERA DUAL!” Tsukishima’s eyes widened, and he stepped so that Yamaguchi was between him and the over-excited actor.

Narita ran to the center of the set and called, “Alright, who took my blush?”

Tanaka’s eyes widened as he shouted, “The ghost has struck again!”

Half the cast screamed, Yachi included.

She felt a hand land on her shoulder and jumped about a foot in the air, before seeing it was just Ennoshita. “Good luck,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First Yachi chapter! Woo hoo!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I had this idea after finding out about Haikyuu!! Quest, and I'm finally doing it! Please tell me if you find any mistakes or anything, and feel free to comment/kudos! I'm not sure how regularly this will be updated, I'm just kinda doing this in my free time, but hopefully the wait won't be too long!


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